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News Item from Ireland!

Eoin Keith breaks Wicklow Way mountain trail record

Eoin Keith has knocked 4 hours and 38 minutes off Simon Walters record(18 hours 24 minutes August 8th 1998) to complete the 132km length of the Wicklow Way in an amazing 13 hours 46 minutes and 1 second.

This hugely impressive feat of Ultra running started just after 4am at Marley Park in Dublin and concluded just before 6pm at Clonegal in County Carlow on Saturday 13th September 2008.

Congratulations to Eoin on this great run and now surely an attempt at the Wicklow Round must be in his sights.

Well done to his support team also and a full report on the days happenings will be up on the site in due course

Forum Messages

Author

Date

Message

Rene Borg

Today, 7:52 pm

Congratulations to Eoin for this outstanding record.

For those who wonder, this puts his pace at around 06:15min/km (approx. 10min/mile) or a marathon time of 04:22 (maintained of course for a substantially longer time and over much more challenging terrain).

Mick Hanney

Today, 9:26 pm

Photos online

Rachel Cinnsealach

Today, 9:29 pm

Well done Eoin! What a brilliant achievement! rach.

Tony Mangan

Today, 10:31 pm

Well done Eoin! Fantastic run and over tough terrain!! I knew you could do it… Enjoy the recovery! Tony

Running the Wicklow Way

Author

Date

Message

Eoin Keith

Sep 10, 2:02PM

Hello All,

I’ve had an idea in my head for the 2 or 3 months to have a go at breaking the record for running the Wicklow Way this year. Its been on my ultra-running wish list for quite a few years now, but I’ve never really found a space in the calendar to give it a go. It looks like this Saturday, Spetember 13th, is as good a day as any to give it a go! At the moment the weather looks like it should be OK.

The current record is held by Simon Walters. You can read about his run here (http://iol.ie/~imra/simonwalters.html). So the record stands at 18 hours 24 minutes, 54 seconds. Nobody has attempted this since then, as far as I know, so its well overdue at this stage!

I’ll be doing it under Wicklow Round style rules, as established by IMRA here (http://www.imra.ie/wicklowround/). They seem like a good standard to follow. The Wicklow Way is a lot easier to run than the Wicklow Round, with easier terraine, straightforward navigation, and no route choice whatsoever! I’ll be following the Wicklow way strictly, as it is marked on the ground by the waymarking signs, including all the odd loops that get skipped on events like the Wickow Ultra and the Wicklow Way Relay.

I’m sending out this email as formal notification, in the Wicklow round style, so anyone can check up on me en-route to verify the run. Of course, if anyone wants to give me a hand with the record attempt that would be great. Anyone who would like to help out with logistics or timekeeping would be particularly welcome. You’re also welcome to come and run or cycle along with me if you want at any point on the route. Send me an email if you want to know more (to my firstname dot my surname at gmail dot com).

I haven’t worked out an exact timetable yet of where I’ll be yet, but can give rough guesses to anyone who would like to know. I’m currently thinking of setting out from Marley Park at 4am on Saturday morning. Current thinking is to be at Glenmalure at before midday.

I’d hope to write an article for the site on the record attempt afterwards.

Thanks for reading

Eoin

Rene Borg

Sep 10, 3:07PM

Good luck, Eoin, this is indeed a worthy attempt and glad to see someone trying to take this on.

Hopefully, your run will set the bar even higher for those future ultra-running enthusiasts who’ll look to this challenge and ponder their possibilities.

Mick Hanney

Sep 10, 7:29PM

Best of luck Eoin. Not sure if you can avail of logistical support. If you need it, I live not 15 mins from Ironbridge so I can be anywhere from there southwards if you wanted to be able to pick up water or snacks en route. mick dot hanney at ireland.com. I’d suggest joining you on a leg but I’d only slow you down 🙂

gerry brady

Sep 10, 8:41PM

Good luck Eoin. Set a hard record or Aisling and Moire will be having a go at it 🙂

Moire O’Sullivan

Sep 11, 8:46AM

Oi Gerry, I heard that… ;o)

Best of luck to ye Eoin on Saturday, and above all, enjoy it!

Tony Kiernan

Sep 11, 11:59AM

Best of luck Eoin,
To confirm where exactly are you starting and finishing ?

Have you to hop over the wall in Marley park to start at the 1st waymark post ?

Aisling Coppinger

Sep 11, 5:06PM

Best of luck Eoin, great to see some records being pushed!!! Give it loads!

And yeah Gerry I heard that too. 😉
Are you saying me and Moire only go after the easy records!!?!

Eoin Keith

Sep 11, 10:38PM

Hi All,

Thanks for all the good wishes. And thanks to everyone who has offered help and support. Its all very much appreciated.

Jaysus Gerry, you’re well able to put the cat in amongst the pidgeons aren’t you! A man after my own heart 🙂

Tony, I’ll be going “Board to Board”. I’ll be using the boards with the Wicklow way information up on them as the start and end points. The Marley Park board is inside the park, so yes, there’ll be a little bit of hopping involved! Its down by the car park at the big house at the northern end of the park. Its quite a long winding route out using the official route. I was scouting it this evening, and said my hellos to the ranger.

Weather forecast is looking very good indeed at the moment, thankfully. That’s one excuse gone out the window!

I don’t know has anyone wandered past the outdoor adventure shop recently… they have a very large map on display in the window, which consists of OS sheets 50, 56 and 62 all seamlessly joined together. Its pretty awesome to see the whole wicklow way laid out on one big 1:50000 map. Quite intimidating!

Brendan Lawlor

Yesterday, 10:30 am

That Brian Cowen statement makes for depressing reading! I hope that the Government will not be funding alpine style record attempts for runners who only take part in the Leinster League,Irish Champs,Wicklow Way relay, assist greatly with web development, contribute significant controversial debate to the forum and have not participated in any capacity in the high performance activities of the organisation, whether competing in the Europeans, Worlds or Olympics, or volunteering to help the high performance officer.

The Government and the Sports Council want their head examined.

However, in the spirit of sportsmanship and in anticipation of a great record breaking attempt AND fantastic team performances from our boys and girls in Switzerland this weekend, could I wish Eoin the best in his attempt..he might have to set up a new section on the website after this!

Finally, to any Pedantic Pat’s reading this posting, it’s a p!*stake and not intended to upset anyone

Paul McArthur

Yesterday, 2:08 pm

Best of luck. Weather is looking good. Enjoy it!

Alan Ayling

Yesterday, 6:17 pm

Don’t forget you’ve to ride the Epic Blast on the Sunday! At least your Wicklow Way attempt should be relatively free from the risk of being whammied…
Best of luck with it!

Brendan Doherty

Yesterday, 10:30 pm

Hello Eoin
Sorry I gave up bunting my chums over orchard walls in the early hours of the morning a long time ago, so won’t see you in Marlay Park tomorrow in the wee small hours.
However could well see you down the Trail later in the day.
All the best from someone who has supported both Jane & Graham, as well as Simon Walters in an adventure that now lies open for you to improve upon,
The very best for your attempt tomorrow
Brendan D

Gavan Doherty

Today, 9:59 am

Latest from the Wicklow Way:
Eoin’s been spotted coming through Glendalough with 5 hours 23 minutes elapsed and looking strong.

Brendan Lawlor

Today, 11:39 am

Eoin passed through Glenmalure at about 11am, on a clock time of 6:51..looking far too relaxed for my liking so the record is very much on!!

Paul Joyce

Today, 5:45 pm

Eoin has just been spotted about 5k from Clonegal (17:50). He’s running strong. Courtesy of Mick Hanney.

Brendan Lawlor

Today, 6:07 pm

Eoin Keith has completed the full length of the Wicklow Way in an amazing time of 13 hours 46 minutes and 1 second!

Well done Eoin!! I suspect this is a record which might last for a while!

More details to follow

Mick Hanney

Today, 7:22 pm

And he was running well to the very end. Fantastic achievement.

If the run is added as an event I can upload some pics I took at the end.

Cheers,

Mick

Mick Hanney

Today, 7:55 pm

And he was running well to the very end. Fantastic achievement.

If the run is added as an event I can upload some pics I took at the end.